2000-06-06 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- A federal judge yesterday ordered a thorough search of White House e-mails, including those written and received by President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, for any relevant evidence involving the FBI files dispute and related issues.

Acting in a 4-year-old civil suit brought by Judicial Watch, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth said the examination should be done within 20 days, in accordance with a timetable suggested by the White House, and should cover all computerized messages dating to 1993 that have been put into a searchable system.

In a 60-page opinion that sorted out whose files should be searched and what to look for, the judge said he wanted any relevant information turned over to Judicial Watch on three subjects, starting with the Clinton White House's improper acquisition in 1993-94 of FBI background files on White House employees of the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Lamberth also ordered a search for information that might bear on the Pentagon's disclosure of former White House employee Linda Tripp's arrest record and President Clinton's release of admiring letters from former White House aide Kathleen Willey.

The White House made Willey's letters public after she accused Clinton of fondling her.

Lamberth has taken the position that records that might shed light on the Tripp and Willey disclosures could constitute circumstantial evidence in the FBI files dispute of what the plaintiffs say is a White House pattern of trying to smear political enemies.

Lamberth directed a search of Hillary Clinton's e-mail for information bearing on all three issues. He said President Clinton's e-mail should be inspected only for material mentioning "Willey."

Searches were ordered for 31 other past and present White House employees for topics such as "Tripp," "arrest record," "background report" and "FBI files."

The White House has estimated that a search much like this would cost close to $300,000 in staff time.

Lamberth said he would soon issue another order covering thousands of missing e-mail messages that are being retrieved from backup tapes as well as previously unsearched computer hard drives of former White House staffers.

However, he indicated he might consider a longer timetable for portions of this examination in light of an ongoing Justice Department criminal investigation of the missing correspondence.

The Justice Department inquiry, Lamberth noted, is centered on "allegations that the White House 'covered up' the missing e-mails once they were discovered, by threatening employees and withholding information from this court and Congress."